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ARL 44
|price = 925,000 |preceded_by = G1 R and BDR G1 B|leads_to = AMX M4 45}} The ARL 44 is a Tier VI French Heavy Tank. A rather unusual heavy tank. Unlike the normal heavy tanks, it has some armor below average for player expectations. The hull armor is good at its tier: 120mm of armor sloped at 40 degrees. It is enough to counter normal armor piercing from most German and American 75mm and 76mm guns. Against higher penetrating ammunition, angling is required to get more effective armor. However, the sides are quite soft, as they are only 60mm thick. The turret isn't much either; 110mm at the turret face and the mantlet is surprisingly thin at 160mm. The turet sides face the same story as the hull but twice as thin: 30mm; enough for HE shells to go through. This does, however enable the tank to go at some exceptional speeds. It can (barely) keep pace with medium tanks and due to the below-average armor (Thus less weight for the powerful tier VIII engine), more experienced players may prefer to go and flank with the mediums. To redeem itself for such armor, it has a selection of powerful 90mm guns and a single 105mm gun the player can choose. Note that for every progressive 90mm gun researched, the DPM noticabley gets lower while the penetration climbs. Once the tank has been essentially maxed out, the user has two guns to choose from. The trademark gun is the 90mm DCA 45. It is very powerful at its tier, capable of penetrating all heavy tanks at its tier frontally thanks to its powerful standard shell penetration of 212mm (And can outgun some tier VII and even a few tier VIII heavies in penetration). Add with that, each standard shell offers an average alpha damage of 240, which means that every hit slices a considerable chunk off the enemy's hitpoints. However, the drawbacks of this gun is the fact that the reload time is only 9.59 seconds (With 100% crew alone). This results in a slow rate of fire of 6.26 rounds a minute and ultimatly leading to a below average DPM of 1501.71. Sniping isn't advised either, as it has some below average gun handling compared to similar calibered weapons (Despite the in-game claim of good accuracy). The second gun is a 105mm cannon that offers significantly better DPM and alpha damage per shot. However, it has worser gun handling and has slower reloading time (10.26 seconds with 100% crew resulting in a rate of fire of 5.85 rounds a minute). Summing up this tank, players that are used to normal heavy tank playstyle will not like this tank. Medium-light tank oriented players would be better off playing this tank. It has the armor to bully other medium and light tanks at its tier and the firepower to compete with other heavy tanks even at tier VIII. When top tiered, you can serve at the frontlines, using your good hull armor to trigger a push. Uptiered, the user should go the other way and help to break open a flank. A great example of jack-of-all-trades, master at none. 'Pros and Cons' 'Pros' *Great depression at all sides *Excellent selection of guns *Great frontal hull armor *Medium-ish mobility *Tracks can do some shot baiting *Many guns (If not essentially all) carry onto the next tank 'Cons' *Very thin side and rear armor for both the turret and hull *Turret is thinly armor; 110mm of armor which most shells can penetrate and the mantlet is only 160mm thick, leading to a questionable ability to hull down. *Vulnerable to artillery due to the above. *Horrible stock grind. Category:Tank Stubs Category:Heavy Tanks Category:Tier VI Tanks Category:Tanks Category:French Tanks